As I've made apparent in The New Dawn, there are numerous sects of Jedi in my SW Universe, all with different doctrines and characteristics. I felt now would be a good time to go in-depth on some of the Jedi sects that exist in my SW Universe.
Mind you, not all of these different sects are going to make appearances in any of my rewrites; I'm just mentioning them here for the sake of completeness.
I've decided not to include Dark Jedi (Jedi who have fallen to the dark side), Gray Jedi (unorthodox Jedi who flirt with the dark side), or Jedi sects mentioned in the EU in this list, even if I do consider them canon.
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GRAY KNIGHTS OF TARAVEDRA
HISTORY
The Gray Knights of Taravedra were formed in 4891 BBY.
Following the Great Hyperspace War, an extremist group of Jedi known as the Jedi Shadows set out on a crusade known as the Great Sith Purge to contain or eradicate all the remaining vestiges of the Sith and their lore. It was during the Great Sith Purge that one of the Shadows was exposed to the enchanted armour of Sar Maland, a great Sith warlord who had lived in the thousands of years prior to the Great Hyperspace War. Coming into contact with this armour allowed Maland to take possession of the Jedi's body, allowing him to live again.
In his stolen body, Maland wrecked havoc across the Known Regions of the galaxy before a team of Jedi brought him to his second end on the uninhabited world of Taravedra. Deciding that the armour was too dangerous to ever leave the planet, the Jedi who had defeated Maland stayed on Taravedra and made it their new home, building a fortress there to contain the enchanted armour. From there they became the guardians of the armour, dedicating their lives and the lives of their descendants to guarding it.
One of the oldest sects of Jedi, the Gray Knights only came to an end with the Great Jedi Purge.
CHARACTERISTICS
The Gray Knights of Taravedra wore gray robes, from which they earned their name. Unlike most Jedi of the modern era, they wielded Jedi katanas in place of lightsabers.
JIKLUWAN SECT
HISTORY
The Jikluwan sect was established in 3957 BBY by Asswan Jikluw, a human Jedi knight from Obroa-skai.
Largely as a reaction to the bloodshed wrought by fallen Jedi during the Great Sith and Jedi Civil Wars, Jikluw had come to believe that attachments to things of the flesh -- romantic and familial attachments, in particular -- put Jedi in grave danger of falling to the dark side. As a result of this, Jikluw severed all ties to his friends and family and relocated to the Core world of Alsakan. There he gathered a small following of Jedi and had a Jedi temple constructed to serve as their base of operations.
A small sect, the Jikluwan Jedi never spread beyond Alsakan and their numbers never exceeded ten-thousand. They were all eventually wiped out when the Mandalorians captured Alsakan during the First Clone War.
CHARACTERISTICS
Due to their rules of non-attachment, the Jedi of the Jikluwan sect were forbidden from forming romantic relationships or keeping in touch with family members. To facilitate the continued existence of their sect, all initiates were inducted into their ranks from outside the Order within the first five years of life.
The Jikluwan Jedi wore brown robes and primarily wielded lightsabers with blue and green blades.
NAVEEDAN SECT
HISTORY
The Naveedan sect was established in 462 BBY.
Ezru Naveed was born into a Jedi family of the Coruscanti Order but was not herself Force-sensitive. In spite of this, her parents chose to reer her in the Jedi traditions, training her as best they could. When the Jedi Council learned of this, they decreed that Ezru's training be put to a stop. When the Naveeds openly refused to obey, they were excommunicated from the Order.
Deciding to take a stand, the Naveeds established their own Jedi sect. Recruiting the non-sensitive children of other Jedi, they established their own sect -- a sect devoted to training non-sensitives as Jedi.
When the Great Jedi Purge began, the Naveedan sect wasn't persecuted as heavily as other sects due to the fact that most adherents were non-sensitives. Many were still imprisoned and executed for serving as enemies against the Empire, however.
CHARACTERISTICS
Most of the Naveedan Jedi were not Force-sensitive. As a result, many carried blasters and utilized jetpacks to compensate for their deficiencies.
ORDER OF ALDERAAN
HISTORY
(under construction)
CHARACTERISTICS
(under construction)
ORDER OF CORUSCANT
HISTORY
Though considered the "original" Jedi Order, the Order of Coruscant only came to exist in its present form in either 3976 BBY or 1000 BBY, depending on whom you ask.
In the time before the Great Sith War, the Jedi Order was largely decentralized with no central leadership or complex dogma. Once the Great Sith War came to an end, however, the Jedi were left in a weak, fragmented state, and it was decided that a permanent Jedi Council would be formed on Coruscant in order to oversee the preservation and rebuilding of the Jedi Order. As a result of this, however, the Jedi slowly became more hierarchal, more dogmatic, and more answerable to the Republic Senate.
Thousands of years passed, then the New Sith Wars occurred. Following the New Sith Wars, the Jedi Order began making a series of reforms -- reforms which prevented Jedi from marrying outside the Order, from remaining in contact with non-Jedi family members, and from recruiting anyone older than five years of age. In retaliation against these reforms, billions of Jedi broke away from the mainstream Jedi Order to form their own orders; this event became known as the Fourth Great Schism, the only schism within the Order which didn't involve Jedi falling to the dark side.
Once the Clone Wars rolled around, the Coruscanti Order had basically become another branch of the Republic military and completely answerable to the Senate. Even when the Republic displayed corruption, the Coruscanti Jedi followed its every whim. When the Republic transitioned into the Empire, this situation only intensified. Even once Palpatine came to power, the Coruscanti Order refused to betray the Empire. When the Great Jedi Purge began, Palpatine reformed the Order of Coruscant into his Army of Jedi, which he used to eradicate the other Jedi.
Following the Great Jedi Purge, the Army of Jedi was reorganized into the Inquisitorius, an organization of Dark Jedi tasked with hunting down Jedi who had survived the Purge and either converting or destroying them. The Inquisitorius prospered during Palpatine's rein and preservered after Palpatine was defeated during the Battle of Endor. It was only when Coruscant was captured and the New Republic came to power that the Inquisitorius was finally driven out. Most of the Inquisitors escaped to the Deep Core world of Byss, where they eventually met their end when the planet was destroyed in the final defeat of the returned Emperor Palpatine.
CHARACTERISTICS
Directly prior to the Clone Wars, 50% of all Jedi in the Known Regions had belonged to the Order of Coruscant, making the Coruscanti Order the largest Jedi sect at the time.
The Coruscanti Jedi wore charcoal gray uniforms adorned with black outer tunics, belts, boots, and -- in the case of masters -- cloaks.
The Coruscanti Jedi were divided up into three main classes: guardians, consulars, and sentinels; Jedi guardians were devoted to the physical side of the Force; Jedi consulars to the spiritual side of the Force; with Jedi sentinels falling in between. To distinguish the guardians, consulars, and sentinels from one another, each class wielded lightsabers of a different colour; Jedi guardians wielded lightsabers with yellow blades; Jedi consulars wielded lightsabers with blue blades; and Jedi sentinels wielded lightsabers with green blades. Not all the Coruscanti Jedi followed this tradition, however; Siri Tachi wielded a fuchsia lightsaber; Jard Doku wielded an orange lightsaber; his father wielded a crimson lightsaber; and most of the Jedi on the Council were known to wield lightsabers with blades of various colours and hues.
ORDER OF DURO
HISTORY
The Order of Duro came into existence following the Unification Wars which led to the formation of the Republic. As such, it was one of the oldest Jedi sects in existence.
As Duro was one of the founding worlds of the Republic, it had a large Jedi presence from the beginning; as the Duros established more and more colonies on other worlds, the Duros Jedi went with them, expanding their numbers considerably. In time, the Durosian Jedi became ubiquious throughout the Duro Sector.
When the Coruscanti Order went through its reforms following the New Sith Wars, the Durosian Order refused to follow suit, driving a wedge between the two factions which would forever set them completely apart from one another.
The Durosian Jedi were among the first Jedi to die in the Great Jedi Purge.
CHARACTERISTICS
While most of the Durosian Jedi were Duros, there were some non-Duros Jedi in the Order.
Due to the Durosian Order's emphasis on family and familial relationships, most of the Durosian Jedi were born into the Order. More than 60% of the Jedi in the sect were born to parents who were themselves Jedi.
Durosian Jedi referred to their apprentices as padawans. "Padawan" was an archaic term for "apprentice" which had fallen out of use within most other Jedi sects sometime before the Great Hyperspace War.
Durosian Jedi wore black bodysuits adorned with a stole draped across the right shoulder; Jedi of different ranks wore stoles of different colours -- padawans wore stoles of beige; knights wore stoles of alice blue; masters wore stoles of white; and grand masters (masters who were on the Durosian Jedi Council) wore stoles of carmine.
Durosian Jedi of different ranks wielded lightsabers with different colours; padawans wielded lightsabers with cerulean blades; knights wielded lightsabers with alizarin blades; masters wielded lightsabers with jungle green blades; and grand masters wielded lightsabers with lavendar blades.
ORDER OF ILUM
HISTORY
The Order of Illum was established in 1452 BBY.
Due to the abundance of lightsaber-quality crystals which naturally form in the planet's caves, Ilum was held in high regard by the Jedi, who considered it an almost holy site. When the New Sith Wars occurred, the planet was invaded by the Neo-Sith, who sought to capture the crystals for themselves. In retaliation, the Jedi counter-invaded Ilum, recapturing the planet and driving the Neo-Sith from the planet completely.
To prevent the Neo-Sith from gaining access to Ilum crystals ever again, the Jedi established a permanent settlement on the planet, building several fortresses to guard the crystal-producing caves. When the New Sith Wars eventually came to an end and all the Neo-Sith were defeated, the Jedi on Ilum remained there to protect the crystals from any other unworthy beings who happened to come along.
Perhaps as a result of exposure to Ilum's harsh cold climate, the Jedi on Ilum became half-mad over the centuries. By the time the Clone Wars rolled around, The Ilum Jedi had literally become worshippers of the crystal caves and fierce defenders of them; anyone who happened to visit the world were immediately captured and forced to go through strenuous tests of character to determine whether they were worthy of procuring Ilum crystals; any who failed the tests were immediately put to death.
When the Great Jedi Purge occurred, the Order of Ilum refused to side with Palpatine and his New Order and, as a result, was eradicated.
CHARACTERISTICS
As most Ilum crystals came in blue, green, and every hue in between, the Ilum Jedi wielded lightsabers with blue, green, and blue-green blades.
RONIN JEDI
HISTORY
Ronin Jedi weren't actually a sect of Jedi, but Jedi who -- for one reason or another -- did not belong to any sect of Jedi. While not Dark or Gray Jedi, ronin Jedi did not strongly adhere to dogmas and traditions, choosing instead to follow their own path in the Force. As such, they greatly resembled the Jedi Knights of old.
CHARACTERISTICS
The characteristics which defined ronin Jedi were, ironically, their lack of defining characteristics.
WAIJJUAN SECT
HISTORY
The Waijjuan sect was established in 946 BBY by Neve Waijju, a zabrak Jedi master from Alsakan.
A member of the Jikluwan sect, Waijju had come to believe that even the Jikluwan Jedi hadn't gone far enough to separate themselves from attachments. Breaking away from the Jikluwan Jedi, Waijju established his own sect. Utilizing experimental memory-imprinting machines, Waijju completely did away with the master-apprentice method of instruction, completely relying on the machines to train new initiates.
Even smaller than the Jikluwan sect, the numbers of the Waijjuan sect never exceeded two-hundred. While it is unknown precisely what become of the Waijjuan Jedi, it is presumed that they were exterminated along with their Jikluwan brethren.
CHARACTERISTICS
The Waijjuan Jedi wore white uniforms and wielded lightsabers with blue blades.